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A blog about living, loving, and urban homesteading in the Pacific North West & Midwest. Everything from gardening and home renovation to recipes and moving tips. Building community and growing together.

Menu: Sept 2-9

Jobs can be frustrating at times. I keep having to tell myself that Mr. Moon doesn't need to leave just because he has asked 6 times in the last 12 days when he should be expecting the schedule that starts this Wednesday. When they had the schedule week running from Monday to Sunday, they were receiving the schedule on Wednesday; 5 days before it started, and a reasonable length of time. Not being involved in this particular restaurant's decision to shift the pay and schedule week, I can't tell you their reasoning to change it, but I do know that when you have a Mon-Sun schedule, you risk either end up paying extra overtime or sending people home to avoid it during your busiest nights of the week. I don't have a problem with the shifted schedule week; I have a problem with him asking 6 times now and not receiving ANY ANSWER whatsoever about when the next schedule will be posted. He's been assured he's not on the chopping block to get fired, but it makes me anxious nonetheless. And on top of that, we can't make a schedule for the week without his work schedule! Very frustrating.

This week, as I mentioned before, we put a schedule of regular chores on the to-do list in wet erase marker. We sat down and listed all the things we want to be doing weekly or multiple times a week, and spread them out between days so that no one day was overwhelming with chores. It did result in two days in a row sweeping the kitchen (Sunday is mopping too), but that's not exactly a tragedy. Easier than trying to alternate weeks just to alternate days (Sun, Tue, Thu, Sat, Mon, Wed, Fri). Ugh. Much easier to just sweep two days in a row!
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As far as the menu goes, we did the best we could with what we had, knowing that we will probably end up flexing things around if they don't work nicely with his work schedule. As always, I only plan my own breakfasts and lunches; everyone else can figure themselves out!

Monday:Breakfast was eggs and toast. Still working out a morning routine that doesn't involve my blood sugar crashing.Lunch: Turkey Club! Maybe a wrap.Dinner: Veal Parmigiana, bumped from last week. [Freezer meal.]

Thursday:Breakfast: Sausage casserole (Haven't decided if this will be a crockpot version or not, but probably) [batch cook]Lunch: BCuT! Bacon, Cucumber, Tomato sandwich. Lettuce doesn't sit well with me, so I opt for cucumber instead. Yum!Dinner: Fend For Yourself day! I'm having a salmon sandwich on ciabatta (I don't like leaving things up in the air too much, but it's nice to schedule in some flex time--that salmon can be cooked from frozen, so if I opt for something else it's no big deal).

Sunday:Breakfast: Fried Egg SandwichLunch: QuesadillaDinner: On Your Own! Mr. Moon and I have tentative group date plans, so we may end up eating out, or else we'll use some of our "Oh Shit!" meals that's put up in the freezer.

I'm making a point of freezing things into single and double serving sizes, so that they can be a meal for anyone individually or either couple wherever possible. Each batch of stuff in single servings usually includes one or two for myself with my own ingredients, since I still eat fairly separate from everyone else, or we will pot luck a meal together--I supply the broccoli, they supply everything else, and we make a big batch of broccoli mac and cheese like we did last week.

But portioning everything into serving sizes takes time! I have determined that it's still saving some time, because layering together 2 loaf pans and 4 mini-loaf pans of broccoli mac took about as much time as it would take to make one big pan/bow and then portion out the leftovers. At least doing it ahead of time means they get frozen into nicely-shaped portions and containers that can easily be warmed up straight from the freezer later. And in this instance it meant I could get around the lackluster amount of cheese available by just putting the top layer on the loaf pan I was making for that night, and adding the top layer for the rest of them when they get baked off later.

We had so many ideas this week that got pushed off that I made myself the beginning of a list for next week in my shopping list notebook. Just so I don't forget what I had been looking forward to and didn't get to have this week.
---------------------What's on your menu this week? Would you care to join me at Menu Plan Monday a la Org Junkie?

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